The Chronicles of Alexander
by SkyeTrain
Summary: In ancient Egypt, a darkness has come over priest Seto...and in his quest for powerful monsters for his dark designs, he comes across a boy in the mountains with unimaginable power...a power that threatens Pharaoh Yugi...
1. Shadows in the Sand

The Chronicles Of Alexander  
  
Chapter One - Shadows In the Sand  
  
"The men have assembled, Sofia. I regret that it is time for me to be going"  
  
"You know how I feel about this attack, Freed. What would Alexander and I do if something were to happen to you?"  
  
Freed smiled his wide, warming smile. He placed a large palm on Alexander's head and ruffled his hair.  
  
"Pah! The King of the far south has lent me a detachment of his finest warriors."  
  
Sofia looked at him quizzically, and raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Those warriors?"  
  
Freed nodded and smiled again.  
  
"Besides, if anything bad were to happen to me, you would have foreseen it. Isis didn't give you that trinket just to pretty up your neck, my dear. Now, I must be going."  
  
Sofia hated to admit it, but Freed was right, as he usually was about most things. Still, she had begun to wonder whether Isis had chosen the right person to bear the necklace after her.Sofia stopped thinking about that. It would do her no good to relive the past. She must focus on the future - she had promised Isis that much.  
  
Alexander spoke up.  
  
"Can't I come too, Dad?"  
  
Freed laughed and spoke down to his son in his deep, booming voice.  
  
"Not today, my boy. Your mother worries enough about me without you to stress her further. You be a good lad and protect her while I go out. You know where my sword is..?"  
  
Alexander nodded, and Freed ruffled Alexander's hair with his massive palm once more.  
  
"Good good."  
  
Freed fastened the remaining metal plates to his body and pulled the leather straps tight. Turning back one last time to look at his son, he cast the door to one side with his massive right arm, (nearly taking it off its hinges) laughed, jumped on his horse and rode out to meet the rest of his troops. Within moments there was a massive blast of silvery trumpets, and the ground shook as the army of general Freed advanced down the rocky mountains, destined to meet the enemy in the shifting sands beneath.  
  
Sofia mumbled: "I hate it when he does that." - but it was evident from her smile that she was not too displeased.  
  
"You're sure Dad's going to be O.K?"  
  
Alexander looked up at his mother with a face full of concern.  
  
"Yes," Sofia said, touching her hand gingerly to her forehead, "He'll be just perfect.you know your father.now just let me lie down for a moment."  
  
Sofia stumbled over her feet and had to stop herself from running into a wall. Alexander sat her down on the nearest chair and shook her.  
  
"Mum!"  
  
"I just feel so faint.I'm just going to close.minute.later..."  
  
As Alexander went to shake her once more, Sofia's body flew forward in a violent convulsion, knocking him bluntly on the head. With a look of horror and disgust, Alexander watched as his mothers eyes rolled to the back of her head, and felt that look of horror change to one of awe as he looked down at Sofia's necklace. It was a present from her best friend, she had told him - nothing more. His eyes were transfixed, watching it shimmer as streaks of gold and silver snaked across its surface is it shuddered with a bright light. All of a sudden his mother spoke, not with her usual stern- yet-soft voice, but with a voice throbbing with ink on cracked parchment and sealed mystery, breathing out an air of heavy whispers that seemed to fill the whole room up, right to the ceiling.  
  
"Alexander, listen to me. This is the voice of your mother's friend, Isis."  
  
Alexander gazed intensely at the shadow around his mother, his eyes narrowing at the power of the voice. True enough, it seemed that Isis was there, hovering over his mother. He opened his mouth to ask a question.  
  
"There is not enough time to talk about this. I am speaking to you because I can detect what your mother is not yet sensitive enough to, the minute balance of things in the world, and what outcome it has on the near future. Go now, ride to your father, take anything you can to defend yourself and get there as quickly as possible. Do not just stand there! GO NOW! There is something vitally important about to happen at that battle, and you must be involved! Hurry!"  
  
Alexander tried to move, his mouth gaping, but he found he was rooted to the spot. He couldn't just leave his mother like this.in the hands of some crazed vision.then he thought about his father. What was happening to his father at that battle? Was he going to be safe? Alexander found the will to rip his feet from the ground and ran into the next room, where his father kept the spoils of battles long since fought. Everything was a blur. Without thinking, he grabbed his Dad's slender sword that hung on the wall and tore it from its golden case.and it seemed to whisper as he did so..but no time to think about that now, he ran out of the semi-hinged door and mounted his horse, Rynador, before galloping after his father's army.  
  
Shielding his eyes from the sand that flew up into his face, Alexander rode on. Was that a black mist rising out of the valley below?  
  
And far below Alexander, at the bottom of the mountain, Freed and his army began to give battle in vain. 


	2. A Dragon with Blue Eyes

Chapter 2 - A dragon with Blue Eyes  
  
Freed looked over his troops. Everything was prepared, the ranks of men led by his chosen captains, the finest swordsmen from the far forests, a retinue of goblins, amazons from deep within the jungles of far kingdoms and even the iron warriors of the lands to the far east. His most trusted captain, Marafi, walked up to him and smiled broadly.  
  
"This won't last too long. Look at those Egyptian soldiers, they're no match for a retinue of amazons, let alone our entire army. I suppose that they are going to rely on something as daft as the magical powers of their gods, typical of them. What makes them think that their gods are in any way superior to ours?"  
  
Freed, however, was not smiling.  
  
"They say that they have powerful relics that can channel the power of the gods, and allow them to bring forth monsters beyond our imagining. I wouldn't take the rumours too lightly: a warrior's greatest weakness is to underestimate an opponent."  
  
"Hah! Channel the power of the gods? I think you have your armour on too tight, Freed - it's cutting off the circulation to that mighty head of yours. The Egyptians are capable of cheap magic tricks, nothing more."  
  
"We'll see."  
  
Freed had always been a believer in manifestations of higher beings. The spoils he had brought back from battles in foreign lands suggested to him that there were your average weapons, and your damn unusual ones. He had touched a piece of armour once and it had exploded in flashes of white light, almost blinding him. And if there were things like goblins and iron men, who said that there couldn't be magical weaponry? Too long had he stayed up at night, listening to the whispers of the sword and watching as the metal seemed to flow softly through it, as if it were alive. Thinking about it, what if it were.  
  
The shouts and beating of drums from the Egyptian army interrupted his train of thought. The sooner the better, jested Freed to himself. Drawing a more 'normal' sword, he drew his horse around and gave the orders to charge.  
  
********  
  
Alexander felt as if his face would peel off. The wind rushing past him as he galloped down the mountainside tore at his ears and pulled at his hair. Rynador panted as they jumped over a small gap in the ground, and though he felt sorry for his horse, Alexander couldn't help wishing that it would go a little faster. He swore that he could hear the sound of battle drawing ever nearer.  
  
********  
  
Both of the armies swarmed round like great groups of angry hornets and the sound coming from them was phenomenal. They were getting closer and closer.soon Freed would find out how powerful the Egyptians were supposed to be. He hoped that the men had remembered their drilling, and would go for the flank or the front as they had been instructed. He gave one last battle cry before the armies met.  
  
The clash of the two armies was like the interlocking of two great autonomous hands, except that after the bases of the fingers had been reached, the knuckles buckled indiscriminately, skin and cartilage being flayed apart and blood spattering everywhere. Such was the nature of battle, Freed was used to it, and at least everything appeared to be going to plan. Although the main body of the Egyptian warriors were bristling equally with spears and menace the goblins had smashed their left flank, crushing their armourless bones. Following this, Marafi's men had chased them down, and the amazons had shot the stragglers and any that had survived the initial onslaught - the Egyptian men screaming at the wooden steaks that had sprouted from their chests and legs. Freed's army had been equally successful with the Egyptian archers, or more correctly the king of Anachron's men, for the arrows bounced meaninglessly off their metal skin. They simply advanced until they got to the point where they could slaughter the Egyptians in their hundreds.  
  
But something worried Freed. A retinue of Egyptian soldiers.of some description.had held back. They were dressed rather inappropriately for battle - perhaps they were supply men? And where was the general of the Egyptian forces? Freed called his men into order, intent on pursuing the strange warriors.  
  
********  
  
Alexander was almost sick with dizziness. His heart was pounding, and he was giddy from head to toe. Finally Rynador and he reached the soft sand below the mountains, and he could see his father's men just over the horizon. He had to get there.he had to.but what was he supposed to do when he did?  
  
********  
  
Having tracked down and destroyed the rest of the Egyptian forces, Freed was still nervous. The victory had been too easy. Surveying his troops there were, of course, some casualties, but these could hardly be called major. Captain Marafi cantered up to Freed on his horse and asked him what was going on. Freed replied:  
  
"Let's find out."  
  
He approached a man in blue flowing robes, holding a staff topped with a golden serpent's head, yet maintaining a good distance between them. Freed coughed loudly and began to speak, though the man, and the men he was with, did not bother to look up at him.  
  
"I am here to announce that, as you can see, I have destroyed your army. I ask you now to surrender, for it would be the wisest thing to do. Otherwise I will have to kill you or take you prisoner."  
  
The man in blue robes looked up, smiling wickedly. The golden hieroglyphs on his robes, which Freed had not noticed before, began to jig up and down.  
  
"HAAHAHAHA! What would you know of wise, mountain barbarian? And for that matter, what do you know of my army? HA! Or of having destroyed them? You do not even know who I am, you fool. For surely, if you did, you would have never come here to face me in the first place. Watch as I destroy your precious army."  
  
The men in white robes accompanying the priest laughed in the same wicked tone. Marafi looked at the man in disbelief.  
  
"You are lying! No-one could do such a thing."  
  
The man just laughed again and turned to Freed.  
  
"You mean to tell me that more than one of you barbarian ingrates can talk? Well now, you have surprised me. Next you'll be telling me that you can count to ten.be quiet, dog, while I show you how foolish you really are."  
  
The golden symbols on the high priests robe began to jig more violently now, jolting in and out of each other, forming patterns, and then breaking up to form new, longer, more complex arrangements. A man in a white robe to the right of the priest handed him a glowing green tablet, about the size of his palm, and smirked as the priest clutched it to himself. He mumbled and smiled with eyes wide open as his blue robes sparkled and flared, catching the sunlight reflected by the sands beneath. The men behind him chanted the same Egyptian words.  
  
Marafi laughed.  
  
"They are bluffing - you watch. Any second now, they'll turn around and run away like the cowards they are."  
  
The man smiled, and screamed as his eyes and robes burned blue and gold.  
  
"Unfortunately for you, mountain dog, I am not. HAHAHAHAH! BEHOLD THE RAW POWER OF THUNDER!"  
  
The priest dropped the tablet from his palm, and just before hitting the ground, it hovered in a green haze a few inches off it. As the chanting of the men reached a climax, the tablet grew in size, expanding miraculously to almost the size of the priest himself. Freed could make out some symbols on it.and.and.  
  
The tablet rippled, exploding in a shower of emerald and malachite, and from it burst a green beam of light that pierced the sky above Freed's amazons, goblins and allies from the Machine King. From it erupted a mighty thunderbolt, burning the skies with fierce and deadly light, and scorching and searing Freed's allies, dropping down dead as the bolt scorched their skin and boiled them alive, or simply shattered them into a thousand tiny pieces. Freed had to prevent himself from retching at the gory spectacle.  
  
The high priest laughed louder than ever.  
  
"And now I think I shall kill you, my barbarian insects. Awaken to the undeniable power of Egypt, you doubting fools! Nothing shall stop me and my desire!"  
  
The shining golden symbols on his clothing darted so fast now that they were beginning to burn a hole in the back of Freed's eyes. Freed could just make out, in horror, that the priest was being handed another tablet, this time with a faint yellow glow.  
  
"ARISE, MY PRECIOUS CREATURE!"  
  
The high priest dropped the tablet in the same manner as before, with the same results, and as he waved his staff the tablet shattered open in a burst of golden brick. Standing there in the space where the tablet once was, stood a massive and terrifying creature, and the extent of the raw power it exuded with every breath forced itself unstoppably on Freed's attention.  
  
It was the biggest, most beautiful, most sickening creature that Freed had ever seen.  
  
********  
  
Alexander was sick. Not just mentally, but physically sick on the sandy ground. He pushed aside a dead soldier and tried to ignore the pungent smell of cooked skin and flesh as he waded through the blood red sand. Seeing another warrior roasted alive he tried to be sick once more, but he just stood there, gagging into thin air. There was nothing left in him. But he had to do what his mother.or that woman, had told him. He wanted to make sure that nothing like this would happen to his father. Alexander waded on through the sea of dead bodies.  
  
********* Freed had seen strange monsters before, and he had killed them with relative ease. This thing was twice the size and completely different. For the first time in his life, Freed was scared.  
  
With a start, he realised that Marafi, grinning, was approaching this monster.  
  
"Its not real, damn you Freed! It's those Egyptians playing tricks on us again!"  
  
Marafi laughed in an unusually high pitched way, and began walking toward the creature. Its slow breathing gave out the pungent stink of hidden death.  
  
"Marafi you fool, no!"  
  
The high priest looked faintly amused.  
  
"HAHAHAHA! So one of you barbarians has some intelligence! End it now, it's less painful that way. Or maybe not. Your meal is here, my pet."  
  
It was too late, Freed tried to stop him but his friends held him back. Marafi approached the beast in an almost drunken state and tried to pass his hand through it, but it kept repeatingly catching on the creature's pale and scaly hide. He laughed and tried again and again. The creature lowered its hulking head for a second and looked at Marafi quizzically. It then roared, revealing countless sets of teeth and Marafi screamed as it ripped the upper half of his body clean off and swallowed it, leaving Marafi's bloody torso upright on the ground. It crushed it completely under its foot, sending blood mixed with sand spattering across Freed's forehead. It screamed with delight and proceeded to turn its' attention upon Freed.  
  
"There is your next victim, my mighty monster. But please don't eat him, I am, after all, trying to recycle my adversaries for the Games."  
  
The pale blue beast stared at Freed. Freed stared back, numb to the world, as if all that was left of him was a pair of floating eyeballs. Its' eyes would be beautiful, were it not for the cold stare they gave through them. How many screaming faces had been reflected in those eyes? All Freed could do was stare back.  
  
Stare into the dragon's endless blue eyes. 


	3. The Darkness of Priest Seto

SkyeTrain: Helo folks. This is the sorta put-you-at-ease-now-that-your-very- confused note. Well, we all know that in ancient Egypt the monsters were not present in the forms of people, but in the forms of mental projections of people with strong Ka. This is still true in my fanfic.read on and see :D. Sorry for the lengthy nature of chapter two, I needed to lay the ground for all the cool stuff that's gonna happen later!  
  
Syllabbus: What 'cool stuff'? You never told me about any 'cool stuff'!  
  
SkyeTrain: Hush, you. Cool stuff such as the story continuing in two different time zones simultaneously, the reason why Freed and his army are duel monsters, the reason why priest Seto is all evil and crazy, the seven creatures of elemental stone.and a heap of other top secret stuff!  
  
Syllabbus: Meh.  
  
SkyeTrain: *sighs* Just read my story! Pleeeeease! *makes puppy dog eyes*  
  
Syllabbus: Oh, all right. Let's have the bit with Shadah and Karim in it now, right?  
  
SkyeTrain: Ok. And for all of you who don't know, (read the manga!) , the priests are Karim (holder of the Millennium Scale), Shadah (original prophet of Anubis bearing the Millennium Ankh or key, Forefather to Shadi), Isis (Millennium necklace, in my story not any more - you'll find out why later), Seto (Bearer of the Millennium rod), Mahado ( original bearer of the Millennium ring, now deceased becomes the Dark Magician tablet), Aknadean (bearer of the Millennium eye, in the past, father to Seto, in the future, father to Malik and Isis. He is now the puppet of Bakura and Zork Necrophedius). The Priests serve pharaoh Yugi with their powers.  
  
Chapter 3 - The Darkness of Priest Seto  
  
Shadah walked into the darkened chamber deep below the earth, his footsteps echoing as he passed the reliefs depicting the many great battles of the Egyptian race. He smiled as he walked past his favorite, a depiction of the sun God Ra fighting through darkness to bring sunlight to the world the next day. He was glad that when he died, he would be buried here, with his family. Death held no fears for Shadah - after all, being the prophet of Anubis, it was his specialty. Turning into the chamber carrying his future sarcophagus, he noticed that Karim was already there. Good - they could begin.  
  
"My body belongs to the Pharaoh", began Shadah.  
  
"And my mind also, may my soul serve him in the afterlife", Karim replied.  
  
"It is good to see you again Karim, these are dark times."  
  
"And they grow darker with each passing minute, like grains of sand in an unholy hourglass. I take it that you are here to ask me about the boy?"  
  
"Yes. It is imperative that I intervene before priest Seto destroys him and takes his powerful Ka for himself. I am here to inform you of my plan", Shadah said decisively.  
  
There was a moments pause before Karim replied, and a grey drop of water fell on Shadah's nose. He brushed it off with a robed sleeve.  
  
" - You should not worry so much, Shadah. Although time is certainly not our ally, we would do well not to rush things. With the help of my scale I am able to determine two key factors which you cannot with your Ankh, as you require physical contact with him to probe his mind. These factors are crucial to our actions."  
  
"May I ask you what these factors are?", Shadah asked, his voice calm except for an almost audible twinge of irritation.  
  
"Certainly, my friend. This child's Ka is fused with his Ba, his better side, and it would be difficult for Seto to remove it with the dark powers he uses now. Secondly, the boys Ka is much greater than you think. Although he cannot channel it directly yet, he is capable of creating vast amounts of monsters with his mind, as well as magical items, traps and artefacts. He has been creating free standing monsters for years now, some even capable of speech."  
  
"But - this is impossible! How can a boy sustain so many Ka entities without collapsing of exhaustion? And how can he summon them from his mind? This is truly a great wonder!", Shadah replied, the previous anguish in his voice changing to wonder.  
  
"Not even I can tell that yet. Maybe when you meet him you can probe his mind for the answers, I can only judge the power of his Ka, not the reasons for its' being."  
  
" When can I go to the boy? And have you been able to find out any more about the reasons for Priest Seto's present condition?"  
  
Karim answered gravely. " It appears - " - Karim closed his eyes and focused -  
  
"It appears that a Ka of immense evil has fused itself with the inner Ka of Seto himself, forcibly removing it from his Ba and transferring the power to his darker side."  
  
Shadah also looked very grave, his face contorting into a jumble of worried lines.  
  
"That, friend Karim, is a dark omen. If there exists an unholy force great enough to conquer the Ba of a priest.then the world and our Pharaoh are in great danger."  
  
Karim looked at the scale, and gave a slight smile, passing so quickly that it could have simply been the spasm of his lips.  
  
"Shadah, you must remember that for every bad there is an equal good. The greater the evil, the greater the good must be. Let us wait and see what becomes of the boy, then you may go to him. For now, we shall wait."  
  
The two priests stood in the death chamber, candlelight playing about their solemn faces, and a third, shining face of the sarcophagus that would one day hold Shadah's body. Death was coming, but he was prepared for it. Out in the desert, Alexander was not so sure. 


End file.
